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This song was inspired by an 18th-c. French pre-revolutionary play about an army deserter, and uses the murder ballad genre to make an antiwar critique.

lyrics

Last night I left the army
The colonel was ragging on me bad
He hurt me and beat me, in general mistreat me
My sunken pride's the only thing I had

Been thinking a lot 'bout my girlfriend
The darlingest thing I ever seen
One day I did spy the officer's eye
On the mark on the bed where she'd been

Oh, unhappy country
Oh, endless battalions
All this is going to swoop down on our houses
And still it must be obeyed

Her mother told her, "Verily,
Here come the officers in town.
My daughter, I ought to get you married,
Before they saunter up 'n' start lurking around"

My father worn and forgotten
And officer-of-fortune born low
He sang in a song that his weary soul longs
To perform only generous actions

My fatherland commands me,
I can scarcely silence this sickness in my heart
My superiors demand me:
Rewrite this sentence and merely do my part

That young officer tried to help me
He spoke the colonel in tow
But it was all too late, must accept my fate
Heaven bound, my soul must go

Last night I left the army
They surely will hunt me down
And murder, my friend, a deserter; his end
Will be known in all the locals in town

credits

from Power to My Friends, released May 15, 2010
words by Sumanth Gopinath, music by The Gated Community

Sumanth Gopinath: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Katie Harris: backing vocals
Scott Williams: mandolin, backing vocals
Teresa Gowan: fiddle
Cody Johnson: bass
Dav Kemp: drums

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The Gated Community Minneapolis

The Gated Community is a country/bluegrass/Americana band with rock influences based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota and has been in existence since early 2006.

Bandmembers: Sumanth Gopinath
Rosie Harris
Beth Hartman
Paul Hatlelid
Cody Johnson
Nate Knutson ... more

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